Type 2 diabetes or NIDDM is a multifactorial disorder affecting an estimated 8.6 million Americans over age 60. Collaborators from the Genetics of NIDDM (GENNID) study and GlaxoSmithKline provided statistical genetic data suggesting candidate regions on chromosomes 1 and 14 in Japanese-Americans. Dr. Richard Havlik (NIA) and other collaborators provided genetic marker data from these potential candidate regions, in an independent sample comprising 175 Japanese-American families from the Hawaiian population with a high prevalence of diabetes. The goal of this project is to investigate independent replication of results in these potential candidate regions, and further evaluation in the event of positive results. In the past year the work on this project included statistical linkage and association analyses in type 2 diabetes (NIA sample) with DNA markers in candidate regions on chromosomes 1 and 14. Evidence of both linkage and association was obtained in the candidate region on chromosome 14, constituting independent replication of previous results in this region. These results provide additional support for the hypothesis that a susceptibility locus for Type 2 diabetes may reside in this candidate region on chromosome 14. This work is accepted for presentation in the abstract form at the 53rd annual ASHG meeting. Future plans include statistical analyses of DNA markers in this candidate region using the expression level of adiponectin, a protein related to obesity and type-2 diabetes, as a phenotype of interest. The locus influencing adiponectin level was independently mapped to our candidate region on chromosome 14, providing possible mechanism for genetic susceptibility in this population.